11:30pm: Barack Obama elected President of the United States.

10:20pm: Himes declares victory in the 4th.

10:02pm: Cappiello concedes in the 5th.

9:55pm: The Presidential numbers seem to be lagging, mostly as folks continue to add their numbers.

9:48pm: Shays concedes in the 4th CD.

Tony Hwang won in Fairfield.

The Senate breakdown is going to hold at 12 Republicans, 24 Democrats.

9:28pm: John Kissel won in the 7th Senate District. Lauren Life won in the 61st.

9:26pm: Sullivan conceeds in 2nd CD.

9:23pm: FOX calls Ohio for Obama.

9:17pm: Cappiello 49%, Murphy 51% so far…

9:17pm: Sullivan is down significantly in the 2nd CD. 65%-35%

9:15pm: Kalinowski is tight in the 100th, as is Lauren Life in 61st.  Bill Hamzy won in the 78th.

Results as they come in:

Roxbury - Constitutional Question did poorly, 438 to 702

Thomaston - Q1 narrowly lost again, 1540 to 1815

Wolcott - Q1; 461 to 3285 in favor.  Folks in Wolcott like their R & I.

8:50pm: Hard to get a read, but looks like the constitutional convention may be headed for defeat.  From the War Room here, its very hard to get a handle on whats what.

9:04pm - Hearing bad news out of Russo in the 22nd Senate…

4th Senate - Blackwell lost Glastonbury and Manchester - that is likely the end in that race.

Hearing losses in Torrington for Anne Ruwet and Al Adinolfi in Cheshire.

Incidents at the polls:

• Reports of long lines everywhere this morning, seems to have eased considerably from the pre-work rush
• There was an issue with the machines at Madison School in Trumbull.  Both machines assigned to the polling place weren’t working properly and about an hour’s worth of votes will need to be hand counted.
• Minor issues reported in West Hartford and Simsbury with machine problems, which have been resolved.
• Norwich Bulletin: A couple from Revere, Massachusetts ended up in Lisbon, CT, on their way to the Crystal Mall in Waterford.  (See map above: A=Revere, B=Lisbon, C=Waterford)

We’ll keep this post open through the day.  If you’ve got a story about incidents, put it in the comments section.

It is Election Day in America.

Men and women from Lexington to Fallujah have spilled their blood in service so that we may cast our ballots as free men.

We offer a humble prayer that our deeds today pay them honor.

The Courant’s Rick Green delivered an excellent retort to the Sunday editorial by Bill McCue on his “CT Confidential” blog by pointing out that the problem isn’t necessarily the problem:

The issue is whether Dodd, a prominent member of the Senate Banking Committee, was told that he was getting a special deal because he was a V.I.P. “friend” of Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. The issue is whether Dodd received special treatment because of his position. Were all those junk fees that non-senators pay when they finance a mortgage waived? A former Countrywide loan officer told me they were.

While there remains some discussion about just how goodthe sweetheart deal was, that doesn’t detract from the more pertinent point: Senator Dodd got these loans not because of competitive bidding between brokers but rather by being a FOA - “Friend of Angelo” Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide - a man who was currying favor with a player on the Senate Banking Committee.  It is a great irony that some of Senator Dodd’s friends can turn so blind an eye on such activity when it is so clear.

It is Day 144 of Dodd Watch, and what have we learned to this point?  The Senate Ethics Committee is digging around into the affair as well as the Justice Department.  For all of Senator Dodd’s attempts to deny that there is any “there” there, the evidence at the moment certainly seems to suggest otherwise.  But then again, that there is not enough evidence from Dodd is the problem, as Mr. Green concludes correctly:

We don’t know the real story because Sen. Dodd is not releasing all information until the Senate Ethics Committee completes its investigation. Until Sen. Dodd releases all documents related to the Countrywide deal, this isn’t going away.

Indeed.

If you spot Election Day infractions tomorrow, shoot an e-mail to votefraud@gmail.com to report the violation.  Our friends at ElectionJournal.org will be tracking all the reported violations throughout the day.  www.electionjournal.org for more information.

With the countdown to Election Day now into hours remaining, the long national melodrama that has been the 2008 election season is nearly complete.  The campaigns are still pushing on hard on Get Out the Vote efforts while the candidates scramble to meet every wayward voter they can find at diners, coffee shops, and senior centers.  No one is safe.

The Hartford Courant took the time to generate a ‘Ten Races to Watch’ blurb that highlights many of the obvious “ones to watch”:  Shays versus Himes in the 4th Congressional District, Bozek versus DeFronzo in the 6th Senate, Witkos versus House in the open 8th Senate District, the incompetent Sen. Joe Crisco versus fireball GOPer Tamath Rossi in the 17th Senate, and the Russo-Musto race in the 22nd.  However, this list skips over several other good Senate races that should be worth watching tomorrow night.

2nd Senate District - Sen. Eric Coleman vs. GOP challenger Veronica Airey-Wilson

Barack Obama is suppose to be a game changer in this district, and he may well be.  But Republican challenger Veronica Airey-Wilson has waged a spirited campaign against the listless Sen. Eric Coleman.  Coleman has been badly damaged in the past by challenges from Bloomfield Democrats, and if the Bloomfield Dems break for Airey-Wilson tomorrow night to rid themselves of Coleman, look for a surprise pick up for the GOP.

4th Senate District - Sen. Mary Ann Handley vs. GOP challenger David Blackwell

Senator Handley has run a pure vanilla campaign, touting the usual “accomplishment” talking points, trumpeting experience, and praying that Barack Obama lifts her candidacy over a strong challenge from former State Representative David Blackwell from Manchester.  Blackwell earned the endorsement of the Glastonbury Citizen late last week - a key town for the Republican - and has been running a shoe-leather campaign, knocking on 8000+ doors.  The district sticks with incumbents and doesn’t change horses easily - Sen. Paul Munz lost in 1996 in a narrow 93 vote loss.  Look for a similarly close result tomorrow.

12th Senate District - Sen. Ed Meyer vs. GOP challenger Ryan Suerth

State Senate candidate Ryan Suerth of Madison has run a spirited campaign against Senate curmudgeon-in-chief Ed Meyer in the battle to represent the six shoreline towns of the 12th.  Suerth is an energetic veteran of Iraq with a young family.  The 12th was not so long ago a Republican stronghold.  It remains to be seen whether Suerth can return it to Republican hands.

We’ll have full coverage of the results tomorrow here at The Everyday Republican.  We’ll be broadcasting results as we get them here from our War Room, which will be set up at our New Britain Office, 321 Ellis St., Suite 501.  Check back here regularly for the results as we get them.